Gnosticism became fashionable in the 2nd century. Even in Paul’s day these ideas sounded attractive to many and exposure to such teaching could easily seduce a church that didn’t know Christ doctrine well.
Paul taught that fullness of God was in this man Jesus who was killed, and that God had brought the body back to life. (Most other religions taught that physical bodies were inferior and not worth saving). Paul taught that this Christ would return on some future day to bring all bodies back to life and to judge the entire world.In other words, Paul’s gospel did not depend on human wisdom, in some ways it went against human wisdom. It had a wisdom of its own. It did not depend on principles that most people already agreed with. It did not depend on clever arguments. It depended on Christ alone, on who he was and what he had done. Gospel begins with what Christ did, and from that, it discerns what the human problem is, and what it is that we need to be saved from. Once we see that the answer is Christ, we are better able to ask the right questions.
In several cities, Paul struggled against people who tried to mix Jewish ideas into Christianity, and it is likely that this was also going on in Colosse. People had added human traditions to Judaism (Mk. 7:8), and were trying to add them to the gospel. Paul is telling the Colossians that they shouldn’t fall for it. It might sound good on the outside, but it is empty on the inside.
Christians have something far better: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (2:9). Christ is fully divine, and He has (present tense) a human body. If we have Christ, we do not need any other ideas added on. Christ is superior to everything else, and all Christians have fullness in Christ, and He is fully God. It is not only Christ, but we also “have come to fullness in Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority” (2:10). Our salvation is complete in Christ. When we are in Him, we are brought into divine life. We do not need anything else. Through belief in Jesus Christ, we are already connected to God, brought into the life of the triune God. Christ is not only supreme, but also sufficient.
- Legalism: (2:11-17):
These false teachers had mixed oriental mysticism with Greek philosophy and Jewish legalism. But the flesh loves to be religious, so long as that religion does not have a cross to crucify the flesh. The Colossian believers were involved in Jewish legalism viz. rituals, diets, holidays, and so on. “You are going out of the sunlight into the shadows!” Paul cries (2:17). “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality however is found in Christ.” Like the child who admires his father’s photo while he ignores his father’s presence, so these Christians had turned away from the fullness of Christ.
All that we need has been accomplished by Christ on the cross. Our spiritual circumcision in Christ is far more wonderful than physical rituals! Paul states. “Why should we replace Christ with Moses? Why we should we have a physical cutting instead of a spiritual operation on your heart? Circumcision removes a fragment of the flesh from the body, but our identification with Christ puts off the whole fleshly nature.”All of this is made possible through our union with Christ, when the Spirit baptized us into His body. We died with Him, and we are risen with Him. The Old Covenant laws are now set aside and Satan has been completely defeated (2:15); therefore enjoy the liberty you have in Christ. “Let no man judge you!” Paul urges
- Mysticism (2:18-19):Some one who claims God is beyond human comprehension. The false teachers were claiming that God was far away and could be approached only through various levels of angels. They taught that people had to worship angels in order to reach God. This is unscriptural. The Bible teaches that angels are God’s servants and we are forbidden to worship them. The sinning angels were even thrown out of heaven. Paul says that people who believe in mysticism had a self made religion. They are trying to deny the significance of the body by saying that it was evil, but their desire for attention from others showed that in reality they were obsessed with physical realm. They were not connected with Christ who is the head of the body of believers. Any one who teaches about God without being connected to Him by faith should not be trusted and such people are the believers of mysticism.
- Asceticism (2:20-23): It is the false teaching that through renunciation of worldly pleasures one can possibly achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state. A false teaching of rigorous self-denial and active self-restraint. We cannot reach up to God by following rules of self denial or by observing rituals or by practicing religion. Jesus Christ is the Good news for us that God reached down to human beings and He asks us for our response. Man made religions focus on human effort, but Christianity focuses on Christ’s work. Believers must put aside sinful desires but doing so is the by-product of our new life in Christ, not the reason of our new life. Our Salvation does not depend on our discipline and rule keeping but on the power of Christ’s death and resurrection. The false teaching of Asceticism was very prevalent in the region of Colossae and Laodicea.